Poultry, and in particular turkeys are typically housed for transport to processing plants in multi-layered cages, coops or containers carried by a large transport vehicle bed such as a flatbed trailer truck. Unloading of the turkeys at, for example, a processing plant, in a systematic manner so as to avoid piling or congestion of the turkeys in the unloading area and so as to avoid damage to the turkeys has long been a problem. The reader will understand that while the invention will hereafter be described with respect to the handling and processing of turkeys from transport trucks, the principles of this invention are not to be limited thereby. The apparatus and unloading processes described in this patent and to which this invention pertain could well be applied to the unloading of other types of cargoes.
Live poultry is generally transported to modern processing plants on large flatbed truck trailers carrying the poultry in multi-layered cages or coops. A transport truck typically carries as many as 160 coops for chickens, holding approximately 13,200 chickens and as many as 120 coops for turkeys, holding approximately 1,440 turkeys. The poultry cages or coops are generally multi-level, usually six levels high for turkeys and up to 12 levels high for chickens.
The coops used for transporting turkeys are normally mounted on both sides of the transport truck trailer, with their coop doors or gates facing the outside of the trailer. The multi-level cages generally are stacked from 8-10 feet high, are built in sections of 8-16 feet long, and are generally about 45 inches in depth, with approximately a 6 inch ventilation air space provided between the coops down the middle of the truck. The doors of such turkey transport coops generally lift up and slide back into the coop at their tops, in overhead door manner. Such coops are generally illustrated in my prior referenced U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,388,948; 5,466,116; and 5,505,582 and in my pending patent application Ser. No. 08/578,170 filed on Dec. 29, 1995. The reader is referred to such cross-referenced materials for a more detailed description of the coop and transport structures.
Unloading of turkeys from their carrying cages or coops of the transport vehicle and into a processing facility, has long been a problem for the processing industry. Such unloading has been very labor intensive, is difficult and often dangerous to the person doing the unloading, is traumatic to the bird being handled, and often results in injury or damage to the bird.
Due to the large size of turkeys, their unloading has generally been performed or assisted by hand, wherein an unloading person typically opens one coop at a time and individually removes each turkey from its transport cage, either lifting the bird into its confining shackles for processing within the plant, or placing the bird on a conveyor belt leading into the plant for subsequent anesthetizing and handling. Since Tom turkeys generally weigh between 25 and 40 pounds, the unloading task is extremely strenuous, time consuming and difficult--and the turkeys are generally uncooperative in the process. The process can also result in undesirable damage to the turkey, which is accentuated by the fact that larger turkeys are more susceptible to injury if roughly handled.
As described in my prior cross-referenced U.S. patents, a typical turkey unloading sequence of the prior art, wherein the turkeys are directly placed into shackle-containing conveyors, is very labor intensive and often results in damage and contamination to the turkey carcass which results in downgrading of the carcass quality. My prior patents disclosed automated techniques for unloading turkeys from the stacked coops onto conveyor belts moving into a processing plant, by successively lifting the backs of the turkey coops so as to pivot the coops about their lower front edges, thereby depositing the turkeys from a tilted coop onto an adjacent conveyor belt. My cross-referenced pending application Ser. No. 08/578,170 provides an alternative method and apparatus for automatically unloading turkeys from the transport vehicle, by providing an automatic system that successively empties the contents from the coops on the transport truck and onto conveyor belts moving into the processing plant, without requiring the lifting or tipping of any of the coops on the truck. The apparatus and method of my referenced patent application enables the transport truck to be systematically emptied by progressively removing the contents of coops, one at a time by the use of an indexing carriage assembly, without the necessity of any human intervention, until the truck is completely empty.
While the method and apparatus described in my prior cross-referenced application provides for a totally automated system, the indexing carriage nature of its structure may require the use of more expensive and higher maintenance apparatus than some processing plants are willing to invest. The present invention provides an efficient, simplified and economical alternative to the methods disclosed in my prior application and patents, which requires some operator support in manipulating the turkey coops, but in a manner that doesn't require the operator to touch or directly handle any of the turkeys during the unloading operation. As with my prior inventions, the moving and urging of the turkeys during the unloading process is performed in a manner which is humane and noninjurious or traumatic to the turkeys, thereby enhancing their carcass value while still significantly reducing the costly labor intensive unloading processes typically practiced by prior art techniques.